You are here:

AMSTERDAM—In the Zuidas business district south of Amsterdam, big modern buildings stand in stark contrast with the iconic canal rings.

Hundreds of shiny copper plaques placed throughout the district point to the abundance of accounting firms in luxurious offices, many of them offering consulting services to major corporations on how to move profits through Dutch subsidiaries, drastically lowering tax payments.

The “Dutch Sandwich,” as the arrangement has come to be known, involves transferring a company’s profits through The Netherlands, where tax regulations are more lax. The plan has often been used with Irish profit-shifting tools such as the “Double Irish,” although Ireland recently closed the tax loophole that allowed such tactics.